Be aware — and stay aware — during Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Wednesday

Oct 4, 2017 at 12:01 AMOct 8, 2017 at 11:43 AM

LaTania R. Jones, Health & Wellness

As we all know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. We celebrate our survivors and those we lost. At 6 p.m. Oct. 5, we will begin our annual cancer walk, starting at the Science & Technology Center on the East Stroudsburg University campus and ending at the Dale & Frances Hughes Cancer Center. Information booths will be available at 5 p.m.

This year, I encourage you to come out and get informed. Breast cancer is a serious disease which can spread fast if not treated. It's a cancer that forms in the cells of the breast. More than 200,000 U.S. cases are made known per year. Breast cancer can occur in women and rarely in men. Symptoms of breast cancer include a lump in the breast, bloody discharge from the nipple, and changes in the shape or texture of the nipple or breast. Symptoms require medical diagnosis. Some may not have any symptoms, but experience discomfort, inverted nipple, lumps or nipple discharge. Also, there could be some redness or swollen lymph nodes. Treatment depends on the stage of cancer. It may consist of chemotherapy, radiation and surgery.

There are several kinds of surgery that can be done: a mammoplasty in which plastic surgery in done to increase or reduce the size of the breasts, or to reconstruct a breast; tissue expansion, in which a balloon is inserted under the skin and then gradually expands it to stretch and grow the skin surrounding the tissue; lymph node dissection, the removal of a lymph node; and a lumpectomy, the removal of the lump (tumor) in the breast. Then there is the mastectomy, the removal of some or all the breast.

After having even one of these surgical procedures, you are then required to take a medical procedure, teletherapy — radiation therapy that uses X-rays or other high-energy beams to destroy cancer cells and shrink tumors. There is also radiation therapy, another form of treatment that uses X-rays and other high-energy rays to kill abnormal cells.

You are then half-way through the battle. Now you have to take the medications. I won't get too specific with them, but it could be estrogen modulator, which is used to mimic the effect of estrogen on various tissues, including the breast, bones and reproductive organs. You have chemotherapy, which kills cells that are growing or multiplying too quickly. There is also another form of chemotherapy, which is hormone-based and treats the hormone-sensitive cancers. Finally, there is the bone health. This form of medication does exactly what it's called — it helps build and strengthen the bones that break down during all this treatment.

Through all of this, you want to have: your oncologist, a doctor who specializes in cancer; primary care provider, a doctor who tries to prevent, diagnose and treat diseases; and a radiation oncologist, who treats and manages cancer by prescribing radiation. You may have a host of doctors on your team, but be sure everyone is on the same page as far as treatment goes. It could save your life.

Remember, the best way to fight and beat this disease in through early detection. The ages affected has increased tremendously. Ages 14-18 have a 25 chance of being affected. Ages 19-40 have a little less than 50 percent, and ages 41-60 have 100 percent, with ages 61+ and up having an even greater chance. So, go and get those mammograms and continue to do so every year. Don't worry; I will remind you every year in October. This year, I will hold my pink light in honor of my mom, Catherine Jones. Be aware and stay aware — it could save your life.

LaTania R. Jones is the coordinator for Health & Wellness and APPRISE.